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Film processors

So I dusted off my Canon A1 (bought just after I left University), changed the battery, found where to add a little oil to reduce the shutter twang and went off to shoot some film for the first time in about 15 years.

Having shot a roll each of colour and black and white I spent a while researching film processors before deciding on Ag Photolab.

The films were picked up at the Post Box around the corner at 5pm Thursday, I got an e-mail at 10am Friday saying they had the films and at 10am Saturday the Postman was handing me a small package containing two sets of processed negs, two CDs with 6MP scans (with index prints on the covers) and a set of prints from the B+W film. Just wow.

The scans seem pretty good (they are sharp) but without testing further I can't tell whether they have the full DR of the negs. (I do really like the B+W ones though.)

Oh and do note they quote 5-6 day turnaround for my type of order, so I suspect I picked a quiet period and got lucky. "Past performance" and all that...

P.P.S. BTW I also dug out my Coolpix 950, last used in 2003 (my second digital camera - I sold the previous one, a Coolpix 900, to help pay for it) and after much cleaning of battery gunk from the contacts shot some 1600x1200 images with that too (including using the amazing fisheye adaptor). Oh and the 5Dsr for comparison with the film, so not an entirely retro time.

Re: Film processors

I still have my Dad's old Rolei TLR somewhere, but it wasn't where I thought it was so I'm a bit uncertain where (I did find the leather case, but converting it into a camera seems too much of a reach). I also need to get it fixed when I do find it, as IIRC it has a broken spring somewhere.

Re: Film processors

Okay, I'm going off film. I just had two rolls back from Ag and one was completely fogged (it looked completely black, but a very bright light showed it had been shot). Very hard to work out what went wrong. I think a light leak in the camera seems unlikely, as the other film was fine. It can't be the shutter as the areas outside the image are fogged (also it was pretty evenly fogged, not just from one direction, and the images are just visible so it hasn't been completely exposed). So I'm thinking Lomography or Ag and really have no idea what happened. Maybe B+W via digital is the way to go (at about £26 per 36 images for film, process, print 7x9 and scan).

Re: Film processors

Jon, before I switched to digital I sent all my films to Peak Imaging (peak-imaging.com). I was reasonably pleased with the results.

When I came on your post I had a look at the website to see what they charged for scanning TIFFs to CD only, because I'd prefer just to process the scans and then think about getting prints done. But I can't see where they do that without prints. They are a professional outfit, though they could maybe jazz up their site a bit!

Coincidentally, in the retro context, I've just dusted off my EOS 620 and ordered a battery for it. If all's well I might rattle off a roll of Fujifilm negative film, just for the heck of it!

Re: Film processors

Another tick for Peak Imaging.

I have my Father's film camera. He thought he needed an SLR, so he bought an AE1 program in black, complete with 28mm, 50mm and 80-200mm Canon lenses, plus a 199a Speedlight. Three rolls of film later, he decided it was far too much effort and stuck with his Canon rangefinder.